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CCNP via the OU

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As part of a Masters degree or Postgraduate diploma you can take the 4 modules that make up the CCNP qualification - it doesn't include the Prometric exams but there is nothing stopping you doing it.

Each course is £1200 and takes about 8 months.

What is the congregations thoughts about this type of qualification - two for one? Or an expensive way to CCNP?

(For the record, I'm not looking to do it, just floating the thought balloon! )

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I love the fact the OU is letting you get certs alongside an academic qualification, seems a good idea in general as long as quality is kept high and at least some modules of your degree are vendor neutral.

I think the OU's pricing for Masters level really needs looking at, especially where the hard work has largely been done for them with things like Cisco academy materials etc.

I'm not a Cisco guy so hopefully others will comment but if its £1200 x 4 then I'd find that kind of cost prohibitive and would have thought that you could get good CCNP tuition for less ?

I agree with everything DMarsh has said and also think that whilst the OU's tutors are likely to be very good, £4800 is expensive for CCNP training and then your exam fee's, possible resits etc. Its gonna get messy. Cisco Lab Rat is probably a good member to comment on this but apart from cost, I'm a fan of the OU's work.

My thoughts were not wholly based around the £4800 cost for the CCNP - which can be made cheaper by training companies or self-studying like daniel mentioned - but it is 2 thirds of a Masters degree - I was considering the Information Systems MSc but this then caught my eye (probably not for myself though) and thought for those wanting a Masters, it may not be the worst way in the world to achieve it - especially if you have/want network experience.

Quick question, would the OU accept the CCNP gained from other venues (either self-study or if you learned it from another organisation) as a direct replacement for the 4 modules that you'd have to do otherwise?

If "yes", then it is an expensive way.

If "no", then does it really matter if you do the modules that relate to the CCNP? You have to complete x amount of modules in order to gain the Master's degree - it just depends what you choose, and from what I've seen the modules are all the roughly the same price.

I saw a few that basically accredited your experience and these were around £5k and the remaining project/course aspect could be completed in 6 months part time.

I heard a guy was doing a space masters for around £2k, but this was office watercooler type chat, unclear if he meant £2k all in or £2k PA.

Also I wasn't really trying to limit my pricing geographically to any one country, which perhaps is unhelpful, but with some todays online degrees maybe somewhat appropriate.

I looked at research masters and £2000-£3000 PA part time was not uncommon, but you also had to fund your living expenses. I'm not sure if they would charge more for fulltime, some universities are really keen to effectively have 'free researchers' so maybe not, fulltime MSc could be done in one year.

Various funding, sponsorship and bursaries etc are available for research masters and Phd's so that can kind of skew the debate also.

Apparently government funding in the UK is pretty low and getting worse for advanced degrees, one lecturer mentioned that nearly all their masters students are now from overseas and it certainly seemed that way when I looked about. Apparently most of europe funds masters at a higher level.

I think this sounds like a good deal. If you are looking to do both a Masters and a CCNP, this looks like a great way to do them both. The cost can be prohibitive - but only from the point of view of someone who is looking to just train for the CCNP. Most of the other Masters study paths cost about the same with the OU (some are cheaper but you have to take more courses). Add that to the OU being the largest Cisco Academy in the country, and it sounds win / win. I am considering doing the CCNA with the OU as part of my BSc and it does look very tempting.

Agreed. I think I boils down to what perspective you are looking at it from. If you are approaching these courses as someone who is looking to get the CCNP and is not particularly fussed about getting a Masters, it does not seem like good value for money as there are many other very good training options out there for getting the CCNP. If you are looking at it from the perspective of wanting the Masters and also interested in gaining industry recognised qualifications it does represent good value.

I managed to crunch some numbers on the cost of a few of the MSc options on offer in the computing and ICT department of the OU and the CCNP (Advanced Networking) track was the cheapest I found (2k cheaper than the Masters in Software Development) - maybe they are passing on some savings due to a large part of their curriculum being provided by Cisco. The most expensive part of the Masters is the research project. Below are the costs I have totted up for a few of the Masters degree tracks:

When I do finally decide to go for my Master's, it'll either be the MSc in IT Management or the MBA (most likely via the DMS route). However a big part of it is time and finances, especially when you have a family...

When I do finally decide to go for my Master's, it'll either be the MSc in IT Management or the MBA (most likely via the DMS route). However a big part of it is time and finances, especially when you have a family...

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